A conventional ironing board assembly may typically include an elongate, substantially rectangular ironing board that is supported by two pivotally connected, foldable legs. At one end the ironing board may have a tapering tip portion, while at an opposite end an iron rest may be provided. The ironing board may comprise a metal mesh table on an ironing side of which a cushioning and heat-dissipating felt pad may be disposed. The pad may be held in place by a textile ironing board cover, an outer side of which may provide for an ironing surface.
A drawback of such a conventional ironing board assembly is that the tapering tip of the ironing board is designed to be useful for ironing a variety of garments. As a result, it is typically not suited for any garment in particular. WO 2010/001120 (Toutounchian) acknowledges this and discloses an ironing board assembly that includes an ironing board and three wing shaped attachments. A front end of the ironing board is shaped to include three adjacent, equally spaced arcs, whereas each wing shaped attachment includes an edge having an arc that is complementary to the arcs of the ironing board. Each wing shaped attachment is adapted to be detachably connectable to the ironing board at any of the three adjacent arcs so as to extend the ironing surface. Accordingly, wing shaped attachments may or may not be connected to the ironing board as desired to provide for a total of eight different ironing surface configurations.
A problem associated with an ironing board assembly according to WO'120 is that, wherever a wing shaped attachment is connected to the ironing board, a seam or gap will be present in the ironing surface at the joint of the wing and the ironing board. The seam is typically caused by the fact that the rigid frames or structures of the ironing board and the wing shaped attachment, and/or the soft flexible pads provided on the ironing sides thereof, do not seamlessly interconnect. When a garment is ironed over the seam at the joint, it will cause an undesirable crease line in the garment.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or mitigate this problem, and to provide for an ironing board assembly with a configurable ironing surface that is smooth and without any seams or gaps.